https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-02095-9
Regular Article
Assessing SFR subassembly depletion via variational analysis with the SERPENT code system
Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Institute of Nuclear and Physical Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Ilkovičova 3, Bratislava, Slovakia
a
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Received:
5
August
2024
Accepted:
9
December
2025
Published online:
10
January
2026
An integral aspect of advancing sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) technology involves the evaluation of new and untested concepts by means of simulation to determine their crucial parameters. These reactor physics computations utilize deterministic and stochastic methods integrated into various code systems, such as SCALE, SERPENT, and ERANOS. However, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of these simulations poses a challenge due to sensitivity to different data and the inherent propagation of uncertainties. Consequently, the performance of individual codes and nuclear data libraries must be assessed through benchmarking exercises. Benchmarks serve to compare results obtained from selected code systems either against experimental reference data or results from different code systems. Many benchmarks within the nuclear engineering domain emphasize the neutronic behavior of a reactor’s core. This paper seeks to assess the performance of deterministic and Monte Carlo codes for neutronic and depletion calculations through the representation of a single subassembly typical of a SFR. Key modeling parameters are outlined, and a comprehensive analysis of these parameters is undertaken utilizing the SERPENT code system. Reactivity parameters and isotopic concentrations are examined, and the ensuing results are compared with those obtained from the Nuclear Energy Agency’s ERANOS benchmark of an SFR representative subassembly for comparative evaluation.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2026
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
